Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny!
Well, WWDC has been and gone and now the world awaits the launch of the confirmed iPhone 4. Got your wallet ready? Let’s take a look at what the latest iteration of the Jesus Phone brings to the table.
The new iPhone looks basically the same as the leaked version that we all saw a while back thanks to Gizmodo. It is glass front and back with forward and back facing cameras. The new screen is probably the most interesting part of the phone. Dubbed the ‘Retina Display’, it is double the pixels of the 3GS in either direction (resolution of 960 x 640) which means 4x more pixels than previous iPhones. This display is rated at 326 pixels per inch and uses the same IPS technology as the iPad for a massive viewing angle.
The processor of the new iPhone is naturally Apples new A4 processor chip as used in the iPad.
The phone is 25% thinner than the 3GS (9.3mm thin!) but just a tad heavier.
The battery is slightly larger rating the phone at 7 hours talk time, 6 hours 3G browsing (10 hours WiFI), 10 hours video, 40 hours music and 300 hours standby. It’ll be interesting to see how ‘real world’ these figures are – the quoted battery-life stats for all previous iPhones have been a stretch of the imagination to say the least.
WiFi has received a welcome bump and is now 802.11n. It would have been nice to see the option of wireless sync to go with this new capability, but hey.
The iPhone 4 will be available in the same flavours as the 3GS storage-wise, i.e. both 16GB and 32GB.
Gyroscope functionality has been added to compliment the accelerometer and compass and to give even more precision to the iPhone’s control capabilities. This means the phone will now be able to detect things like pitch and roll, which it couldn’t previously.
The camera is a 5MP with a backside illuminated sensor meaning more photons can be captured for better photos. There is also an LED flash.
Video is recorded at 30fps 720p and can be edited directly on the phone with the new iMovie app, available as an optional download for US$4.99 which looks absolutely amazing. In true Apple style everything can be done on the phone. Recording, editing, rendering and uploading to YouTube/ MobileMe.
The antennae are now integrated into the rim around the phone: Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS are on one side and UMTS etc are on the other.
The phone will require a MicroSIM so Telecom and Vodafone will need to get these out in time for next month’s New Zealand launch (although presumably both already have these organised for the iPad).
In terms of pricing, the exact same pricing structure as the 3G / 3GS eco-system was announced for the US so we’re expecting it to stay the same here, too, i.e. the price will be the same as the current 3GS prices, and the 3GS will drop to the price of the current 3G (as well as dropping to just 8GB). The 3G is / will be discontinued. Pre-orders for the first wave of countries start in a week, (US, France, Germany, UK, Japan), with 18 more following in July (including New Zealand! Yay!).
As rumoured, Bing has been added to the list of search engines along with Google (still default) and Yahoo!.
As with the iPad, Apple is manufacturing their own case called the “Bumper” $29 USD.
New Apple iPhone 4 Case
Steve also announced a new feature of iOS 4 called Facetime, a WiFi only (at this stage) app allowing video calls to be made iPhone 4-to-iPhone 4. You can use either camera in both portrait or landscape modes.
iPhone OS 4 has been renamed iOS4 and will be available on June 21st as a free upgrade.
As previewed at the iPhone OS4 preview event, iBooks is coming to iPhone with some nice new features such as PDF support, bookmarks and notes.
iAds are enabled July 1st with Many US advertisers already on board including Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Campbell’s Soup, Sears, JCPenny, Target, Best Buy, DirecTV, TBS, Disney and Geico.
Oh, and one last thing, Farmville will be coming in a native iPhone app… To be launched at the end of June to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Farmville….. Really not sure what I think about this..
So – Who’s getting one? Share your thoughts in the comments!
@ dylangiacon:
This is a very good point… I wonder why. I guess we will hear more when more games are ready for it!
I find it weird that we have heard nothing more about Game Cantre in iOS4 since it was announced.
(dylangiacon has made 10 comments)
Actually i suppose that facetime recordimg function is awful.
I stell needed to buy a specila facetime recorder – IMCapture for Facetime. Works great !
http://www.imcapture.com/IMCapture_for_FaceTime/
(dinadana has made 3 comments)